Florida VACATION

We are having the most delightful vacation here in Florida at our daughter Lisa’s house.  On Wednesday evening we flew to the St. Pete/Clearwater airport, rented a car, and drove to their house about 15 minutes away.  We were happily greeted by Lisa and George and their dogs Stella and Prince -and pizza!  We had never met Prince before.  What a big cuddly sweetheart he is!!

Last year they sold their big house in Oldsmar after the terrible 2024 hurricane season.  It was in a flood plane and they had had to evacuate three times. They moved to a little house in Safety Harbor which is on higher ground, the house has concrete walls and impact-resistant doors and windows. It’s an adorable little bungalow, still a work in progress, and already being touched by Lisa’s magic. 

First, some pictures of our Wednesday evening. 

Now pictures of the house. 

This is our sweet bedroom.  

I knew they live just half a mile from Tampa Bay - I had already “driven” around town on Google Maps, lol!  So Thursday morning I was eager to go for a walk.  The weather here has been DELIGHTFUL!  Low 80’s and no humidity!

That evening George took us around town on the golf cart.  When we got down to the bay we parked and went for a long walk on the wooden walkways that meander through the foliage and along the water.  

We ended the evening at Whistle Stop Grill - and yes, there were green fried tomatoes on the menu! I had a BLT with a thick green fried tomato in it. Lisa and I were chilly after the golf cart ride and were so happy to sit next to that lovely fire place.

Back at home relaxing and talking till almost midnight.

On Friday morning Dick and I walked a mile to eat brunch at Cafe Vino Tinto, the CUTEST little place.  The walk there and back were absolutely delightful in the perfect weather.  

One big disappointment we’ve had is that we will not be going to Gainsville this weekend to watch Sophie’s collegiate track meet.  She has been dealing with a persistent hamstring injury this season.  She should not have run two weeks ago - it has been worse since then.  So she did not go with the team to Gainsville and we will not be seeing her.  

However, we instead got to go to the district track meet at Berkeley Prep on Friday evening.  Lisa is the sprint coach there - a very good, well-beloved coach.  When we got to the ticket booth George asked in jest if there’s a discount for the spouses of coaches.   I said, “Is there a discount if you made one of the coaches?”  Nope!  I’m a very proud mom!

The Berkeley girls team and the boys team each placed first in that meet.  Lots of rejoicing!  

Fun Sunday visits, Leaving for Florida

I ended my last post on Sunday afternoon just as we were driving into Pleasant View Communities in Manheim to visit Grandma Arlene. 

What a wonderful time we had with her!  We caught her up on some of our pictures.  Then I told her about a bag of pictures I had looked through the evening before - a bag she had given me before she and Dad moved out of their house in 2019.  In it was a 4-page “memoir” written by Dad. None of us could remember seeing it before. So that led our conversation down memory lane. Lots of laughter and a few tears as well.  She is 94!  She is so easy to have conversations with, but it becomes obvious that memory is an issue.  Many times she asked questions about things that we had just discussed.  So we just told her those things again. 

 

After we left her place to go to Bjorn and Jess a few miles away I realized I didn’t have my purse.  I called Arlene, but she didn’t answer.  We went back to Pleasant View.  When I went up to her apartment she said my purse was there but she couldn’t find her phone. She asked me to call her again.  I could hear it ringing softly.  After a quick search I found it in her pantry cupboard next to the peanut butter.  We got a good laugh out of that!

Then we once again headed over to Bjorn and Jess’s house. What a fun, lively time we had!  Charlie and Louie are ENERGETIC!!  They will be very busy, tired parents when that baby girl arrives in a few weeks!  Thankfully her family is close by, and they have a wonderful support system of friends. 

Charlie treated us to yummy strawberry fig bars. 

He loved squeezing himself between Jess and me. 

Louie is SO energetic!!  I managed to get this picture of him with Bjorn in the background.

Then they got out the play doh.  Louie grabbed Grandpa’s hand and led him to the table.  They had a great time together.  

I was enjoying the chance to chat with Jess about her pregnancy and the upcoming birth. Then Charlie asked me to join the play doh crew.  Of course I did.  His play doh became hay bales, and he was farming. I’m so sad I didn’t get a picture of that.  

Monday and Tuesday were spent getting laundry done, making a big batch of meatballs and spaghetti for Anthony’s family, picking up the boys from school, and packing for our trip to Florida. 

A big robin was making a nuisance of himself flying against the slider over and over and over and over…. for days!!   He’s so beautiful though. 

I closed the drapes before we left today. Maybe that will cut down on the glare. 

We drove to the Harrisburg airport, about a two-hour drive.  Of course we were WAY early.   

And now I’m writing as we fly.  I knew we would have no WiFi on this flight, so right before we left home I put my pictures on this post.  And now I’m writing this in the Notes app on my phone, and I’ll put it on my blog after I have WiFi. 

Easter and more

 It's early Sunday morning and I can't sleep!  I decided to get up and start this blog post instead of lying in bed stewing over things I can't do anything about!

First off, I want to follow up on Anthony and Dick's attempt at getting that big, dead tree limb down.  In my last post I shared a video of their fail.  However, on Saturday they tried again - and succeeded.  When Dick showed me the video afterward, I cracked up!!  Lori was taking the video, and you gotta hear what she said at the end!

Can you believe that in the process of getting that big rope up over that limb, my almost 76-year-old husband was up on this ladder??

 It was a beautiful day, as you can see.  Lori pulled out their blow-up canoe and Hunter had some fun on the pond!

Sunday morning Easter service was joyful!  My choir sang “Glorious Day.”  Miss Vicky completed the three-part object lesson for the kids.  They each now have a mountain with a cross on top, a tomb, and a stone with which they can remember and tell the Easter story.  Solid wood carved and finished by men in our church and stones from a local landscaping business who donated them when they heard what they would be used for.

Anthony and Lori came for Easter dinner.  Hunter was delighted to discover that he is now taller than me!

Anthony took this selfie of our Easter dinner.  We did not have our typical Easter menu this time. We decided to go with food we all like, even the boys - Jamaican rice and peas, curried baked chicken thighs, and roasted brussel sprouts.  Later we had ice cream sundaes with the brownies I had made. 

Hard boiling eggs and painting them was next, also filling plastic eggs with candy and money.  

Anthony and Dick hid the eggs outside, then the hunt was on. 

I loved seeing pictures of some of our grandchildren that we  couldn’t be with for Easter.  So dear to my heart!

On Tuesday we went to the courthouse to apply for new passports.  Don’t we have a beautiful courthouse in Bellefonte?  The whole town is built on steep hills.  We walked down the street from our car when we arrived, but Dick walked up that hill afterward and picked me up at the bottom.

My flowers are slowly blooming.  We had two extremely cold nights this past week, and Dick put tarps over most of them.  

How about that landing of Artemis II??  Breathtaking!  I was especially intrigued because they were coming down right where I had first seen the Pacific Ocean from the Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma.  

And now for some more Ketsi love.  She surprised Destiny the other day with a little giggle that just rolled out of her!

And this!!  I feel like she’s looking right at me!

And now it’s Sunday afternoon, after church we drove to Manheim to visit Grandma Arlene and then Bjorn and Jess and the boys.  We just arrived at Pleasant View Retirement Community.  I’m going to post this without much editing!

Good Friday

 Good Friday.  We had a most meaningful service at church this evening.  As I have shared year after year:

"Christ drank the cup of wrath without mercy so that we might drink the cup of mercy without wrath."

What amazing love!  I led two of my favorites this evening  - "How Deep the Father's Love" and "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross."

There was a special time with the kids.  This evening was part 2, Sunday morning will be part 3. I'll explain it more next post. 

On Wednesday evening Dick and Anthony were trying to be innovative.  There is a big tree limb over top Anthony's driveway that is dead.  They are afraid of it coming down on a vehicle or a person.  They were quoted about $1000 for someone who would cut it down.  Yikes!  Dick and Anthony are Stauffers, and they are sure they can get it down themselves.  So this was how things went.

Time after time of no success!  They finally gave up for that evening, but they have other ideas they will try!

There was a book fair at Elizer's school this week.  I sent $20 for him to get something.  These are the pictures Destiny took of him showing me his choices.   

I want to kiss that face so bad!!!

Spring is truly springing here finally!!  Dick mowed this afternoon, and I did some weeding and found some blooming flowers.  How crazy is it that the weeds showed up almost before the flowers.  Grrr!  

That's all for this time!

Well, not quite!  I just got pictures from Destiny.  Gotta add this one here!

All about Ketsi!

 I didn't share any pictures of Ketsi in the last few posts.  In the back of my mind I was thinking I'll make a Ketsi post.  So here it is!

While we were in Portland, Destiny sent me this picture from the doctor's office - her two-month checkup.  

On Sunday we got these!

She does not want to stay on her back anymore!!

And more yesterday!  

Her first book!  Yea!

And since I'm doing a post, I'll add this.  Our trees have woken up!  Hallelujah!  Spring is truly here!  

Our Palm Sunday weekend

 We woke up to a windy freezing cold Saturday morning in Pennsylvania!  Our Easter egg hunt day!  Ugh!!  They had hit 80 degrees on Thursday!!  At least it was sunny!  

Also I did not mention in my previous post that Dick was feeling increasingly worse as we flew home on Friday.  Constantly running nose.  Actually sometimes a bleeding nose, which is not uncommon for him.  And his ears were killing him.  He finally took his hearing aids out at some point.  He woke up Saturday morning with a very rough sounding voice.  But bless his heart, he was in charge of setting up the sound system outside the church for the egg hunt, so he went there to do that.  (I will add that he went to Convenient Care on Monday and was diagnosed with and treated for an ear infection.) 

I dressed like I was going sledding!  I hate being cold.  As expected, it was a fun event.  Here are some pictures.  

Getting the instructions.

We had the littles at one spot.

The elementary kids were in front of the house, which we call "the annex." (It holds our church office and the classroom for the teens and tweens.)

The older kids were behind the house.  They were required to use grabbers to pick up their eggs.

We were back at home just in time to watch Sophie run the 100 meter and later the 200 meter.  I just love watching her on my big computer screen.  As she stood there waiting her line-up I reached out and touched her.  She seemed so close, and I miss her.  She has been recovering from two ham string injuries, so her times aren't what she would like.  Lisa was coaching at her own high school track meet, so she had asked me to record Sophie's events.

These amazing pictures were from the coach's Instagram post. 

Sunday morning was our Palm Sunday celebration.  The kids processed in waving their palm branches, and later in the service they sang with the choir, a song titled "Wave Your Palms."   There were quite a few choir members and children missing for whatever reason.  Also, next year I'm gonna tell the choir they can sing without their music if the kids can, hahaha!  I guess it would help if I wouldn't go away the week before Palm Sunday.

Out in Portland there was a big event!  Christy and Alana took the kids to a real live Blazers game!!  And they won!  We were hearing the anticipation of that game all last week while we were there!  

We had BLTs for lunch on Sunday, because we're trying to use up stuff from our freezer (the bacon).  But the tomatoes didn't taste that great, so they were a bit of a disappointment.  Nothing like fresh tomatoes. 

Monday I was back to my normal routine - grocery shopping, cooking, picking up Hunter and Austin, and taking them and the food to their place. I made chili with all the fixin's and cornbread muffins.  I gained a pound from eating some of it!

Dick was working on job applications.  There is one at Sam's Club that he really wants.  

I also had a long phone call with our daughter Miki in Sweden.  She had a health scare last week.  I miss her so.  I so wish she could come here for a visit again.  She sent me a video of a song her gospel choir will be working on.  The choir director told her that when she came across this song she immediately knew that Miki would be the soloist because the lyrics were so aligned with Miki's testimony.  I'm so thankful she has that choir!!